Not saying it's not impressive either way! Good point that the question is much less valuable from the perspective of YC partners. From that perspective, all t

Not saying it's not impressive either way! Good point that the question is much less valuable from the perspective of YC partners. From that perspective, all that matters is that the companies perform well in the end. It matters more from the perspective of the applicants. Though even then, because the costs of joining YC are low, it's probably not a big issue for many people. Agree the success rates would be hard to compare. You'd need to have some other proxies for eventual success besides profits. Excellent point that if you can show you significantly helped the most successful couple of companies (which account for 80%+ of the value), and there were no other large successes among the people you rejected, then the job is done. You've shown YC increases the expected value of the companies you select.